1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a system, method and device for selecting and displaying procedures or information relating to a flight management system (FMS). More particularly, the present invention relates to an efficient system, method and device for selecting and displaying navigational information relating to the arrival and departure phases of an aircraft.
2. Background Information
A variety of instrumentation is included in the cockpits of military, commercial and private aircraft. Some of these cockpit instruments include flight computers, Primary Flight Displays (PFD), radios, gauges, and an instrument known as a Flight Management System (FMS) which assists a pilot in building and mapping out a flight plan by formatting navigation data and forwarding that data to a display system for real time display during a flight. The FMS navigation data can include waypoints, distances and headings between waypoints, airports and navaids. The latitude and longitude of the various waypoints, airports, and navaids are programmed into the FMS computer prior to flight in order to chart a portion of an aircraft""s intended course.
A conventional FMS display 10 is shown in prior art FIG. 1 and illustrates various waypoints 12 plotted along a course from an origination point A to a destination point B. A triangle symbol is used to represent each waypoint 12, which has an associated latitude and longitude, which are abbreviated as LAT and LNG. A line interconnects the various waypoint symbols 12, and may be further identified with a distance in nautical miles, as well as a heading in degrees between the associated waypoints. The autopilot may fly the aircraft from point to point based on the latitude and longitude points of the waypoints. Alternatively, the pilot may manually fly the aircraft the intended distance at the identified heading along the charted course.
However, without programming a flight arrival phase, the flight plan remains programmed to fly the aircraft to the destination airport and, in particular, the control tower at that destination airport. Therefore, in order to get to the endpoint of an intended approach, the pilot programs the arrival phase of the flight plan by selecting the arrival and approach, the landing configuration, and the landing data. The selection of the arrival and approach includes the selection of a runway and the selection of an approach. In addition, depending upon the location of the aircraft, a transition and arrival route may also need to be selected and programmed by the pilot. Once the arrival phase is programmed, it will be inserted into the existing flight plan and the waypoint list will change to add all of the arrival waypoints.
The continued advancement in the sophistication of aircraft flight displays has resulted in increasingly higher levels of information density which has presented a greater amount of visual information to be perceived and understood by the operator. In many applications, it is important that visual displays provide a proper cognitive mapping between what the operator is trying to achieve and the information available to accomplish the task. As a result, such systems increasingly utilize the human-factor design principles in order to build instrumentation and controls that work cooperatively with human operators. More particularly, Title 14 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 25, Sec. 25.1321 et seq. provides guidelines for the arrangement and visibility of instruments, warning lights, indicators, and the like. Similarly, detailed guidelines related to electronics displays can be found in FAA Advisory circular 20-88A, Guidelines on the Marking of Aircraft Powerplant Instruments (September 1985).
Current arrival phase programming of the FMS involves multiple pages of information which must be switched back and forth depending upon the programming and changes in programming of the arrival phase of the flight plan during flight. This format requires the pilot to access, scan and assimilate several pages of flight arrival information and procedures in order to program in and change the arrival phase of the flight plan. As a result, it may be difficult for a pilot to locate, assimilate and program the arrival phase information and procedures if flight conditions are difficult.
Accordingly, systems and methods for programming FMS procedures, and especially those that relate to the flight arrival phase of the flight plan, are needed which are more efficient, more intuitive, and easier to use for the pilot.
The present invention is directed to a system for selecting and displaying FMS information and procedure categories which have a plurality of options available in each category. The system includes a display means for displaying the FMS information and procedure categories wherein each category includes a plurality of options for selection, a selection means for selecting and deselecting the options, and a processor configured to generate a predetermined set of options for viewing within each category when an option in any one category is selected or deselected. Further, in order to arrive at the predetermined sets of options after the selection or deselection of any one option, the processor must have access to a database of information relating to any landing sites which the aircraft intends to utilize. Accordingly, the predetermined sets of options which are generated are done so with reference to a selected landing site.
In another aspect of the present invention, a means for scrolling through the predetermined sets of options is provided so that a pilot can more easily carry out continued selections and/or deselections of single options, the selection or deselection of which continues to result in one or more regenerated sets of options thereby providing interactive feedback to the pilot.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pilot with a more efficient, more intuitive, and easier to use system and method for selecting and displaying FMS information and/or procedures with particular emphasis on the FMS data and procedures which relate to the arrival and departure phases of an aircraft.
In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an FMS display device for displaying the arrival or departure phases of an aircraft is presented which includes means for selecting and deselecting a navigational choice within a navigational category. One example of the device includes, but is not limited to, a device where the means for selection may include a cursor control device, the navigational categories may include FMS procedures associated with the arrival phase of a flight plan, and the navigational options may include various options for carrying out the FMS procedure associated with a given navigational category. For example, the navigational categories may relate to the arrival phase of an aircraft""s flight plan and could therefore include such FMS procedures such as selecting a runway, selecting an approach, selecting a start position, selecting a transition, and selecting an arrival route. The navigational options would relate to options for each of those categories. For example, the options listed under the FMS procedure category for selecting a runway may include several different numbered runways that are associated with a given landing site or airport.
Further, in one exemplary embodiment of the method of the present invention for selecting and displaying navigational information, a series of scrollable display areas for a set of navigational categories may be viewed on an overall display area where navigational options for each navigational category are listed within the display area for that category and the navigational options in any given category may be scrolled through in order to make a selection. After a selection is made, a predetermined set of options for one or more categories will automatically be displayed as a result of selecting or deselecting an option. For further clarification, the steps for selecting and displaying navigational information relating to the arrival phase of an aircraft""s flight plan will be described below.
First, a user selects a runway option under the runway category such as runway 08L, for example, which means that the user has selected the left-hand side of runway 8 of that airport which represents the arrival destination. The selection may be made by way of actuating a cursor control device capable of moving a cursor across the options selections, or highlighting the options selections, and then clicking the device to select the designated or highlighted option. In another aspect of the present invention, the selection may also be made by way of a keyboard using the directional areas of the keyboard for highlighting option selections. Once the user selects the runway option from the runway category, the other runway options which were not selected are automatically removed from the display area and other options relating to other procedures for mapping the arrival phase of the aircraft""s flight plan are automatically presented. The automatically presented options are predetermined based upon the remaining procedures for flight arrival that are still available as a result of selecting a specific runway of the destination airport. For example, the display area for the runway category will only show runway 08L and the display area for selecting the type of approach will only show those approaches that are available for runway 08L of the destination airport. Moreover, display areas for other categories (such as, for example, start position for descent, transition, and arrival route) may also automatically present a set of predetermined options that are available for that category given the selections that have been made in other categories thus far.
Next, the pilot scrolls though the options now available under the approach category and selects a specific approach type of such as, for example, Instrument Landing System (ILS). The ILS approach utilizes a localized guide slope which guides you to the airport both laterally and vertically. Once the approach option is selected, predetermined sets of options are generated based upon the options chosen in other categories thus far and are then automatically displayed. Alternatively, if the pilot changes his mind about the approach, he can simply deselect the approach and the predetermined list of options that existed before that selection will be redisplayed. The continued process of selecting an option in each of the navigational categories is repeated until all necessary information has been programmed into the computer to carry out the complete arrival phase of the aircraft.
It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the claimed invention.